Fresh from his trip to Afghanistan and Pakistan, U.S. Senator Bob Menendez attended a Black History Month celebration in Trenton yesterday. During his remarks at the Shiloh Baptist Church, the senator invoked the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr and the Gospel of Luke to fend off the allegations of financial impropriety, prostitution and abuse of power, according to a report in The Star Ledger.
“Dr. King said that ‘the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice,’” Mendez said, prompting calls of “alright” from some in the audience at the Shiloh Baptist Church in Trenton. “In the end, I believe that justice will overcome the forces of darkness. Scriptures — scriptures tell us that he who ‘puts his hand to the plough and looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.’
“I have my hand on the plough,” he said, “and I am going to continue to look forward and to work to make that plough lead us to the fulfillment of educational, economic and health care opportunity in this country.”
You probably won’t read about it in The Star Ledger or The Asbury Park Press, unless The Washington Post or The New York Times picks it up.
The Daily Caller posted another Bob Menendez pay for play story last night. A women in her 30’s, a “professional escort” who travels between Miami and Boston to service her clients told DC that Menendez and several other U.S. senators paid her for sex.
A professional escort who travels the East Coast seeing clients in cities from Miami to Boston has identified a photo of Senator Bob Menendez as a man who paid her for sex. The woman, in her late 30s, told The Daily Caller prior to seeing Menendez’s photo that she had been paid to provide sexual favors to several U.S. senators, including a New Jersey Democrat and other politicians who are no longer living.
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Menendez, she said, is “quite a hobbyist. He sees a lot of girls and doesn’t seem to have the skills to have a relationship.”
“Hobbyists,” she explained, are men who “‘hobby’ in seeing many girls, as many as they can,” referring to escorts who offer companionship and sexual favors in exchange for what they euphemistically call financial “donations.”
If the allegations are true, Menenedez has set a high standard for what should happen:
Following up on the story of the Purcells from Toms River posted last week, my friend Ken Braswell of ShoreGrafx and I visited the Purcells at what is left of their home.
Kim and Jay were sold a flood insurance policy with a $206,000 dollar limit, well in excess of the value of the home. A engineer they hired at their own expense (because their insurance adjuster told them it may take a year for the insurance company to send a engineer) and a contractor told them their house could not be rebuilt and must be torn down. Their insurance company said their house can be rebuilt for $28,000. The insurance company adjuster said he was sending the check and closing the file, regardless of what the Purcells or the public adjuster they hired had to say about it.
Since we visited Kim and Jay, the insurance company has reopened the file and is sending an engineer out to inspect the home. Let’s hope the insurance company does the right thing.
If they don’t, we’ll have a lot more material to publicize.
Maybe he was doing research in the Dominican Republic
U.S. Senator Bob Menendez is co-sponsoring the Real Education for Healthy Youth Act, a bill that would expand comprehensive sex education programs in schools, while ensuring that federal funds are spent on “effective, age-appropriate and medically accurate” programs, according to The Hill.
The Real Education for Healthy Youth Act aims to reduce unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and expand sex education programs at colleges and universities. The bill would also prevent federal funds from being spent on “ineffective, medically inaccurate” sex-education programs.
“Research has shown that programs which teach abstinence and contraception effectively delay the onset of sexual intercourse, reduce the number of sexual partners, and increase contraceptive use among teens,” Lee said. “These programs also reduce unintended pregnancy and the transmission of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV.”
Senator Frank Lautenberg and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) are the primary sponsors of the legislation.
Shut out of the Monmouth County Democratic nominating convention, gubernatorial candidate Willie Araujo disputed Chairman Vin Gopal’s assertion that his nominating process is transparent. Araujo said Gopal should resign immediately.
Araujo said he called Gopal multiple times about his candidacy and never heard back from the chairman. Gopal said that the Monmouth Democrats had a post on facebook on February 3 asking potential candidates for governor to submit their paperwork by February 9. Only State Senator Barbara Buono responded to the facebook post. Buono appeared at the convention is Asbury Park this morning and was nominated by acclamation.
In addition to Gopal, Araujo said he left messages for the Democratic County Chairs in Atlantic, Bergen, Camden, Essex, and Gloucester counties. He said that Somerset County Chair Peg Schaffer spoke with him for over an hour.
“Chairwoman Peg Schaffer agreed to speak with me, we spoke for almost an hour and agreed that it’s up to the voters to decide their next Governor,” said Araujo,”Chairman Gopal, you should talk to Chairwoman Schaffer and take some lessons from her. You cannot endorse someone simply based on friendship. I think the Democrats in Monmouth County deserve better. You cannot be one sided… You should resign immediately.”
Red Bank Councilman Ed Zipprich and Neptune Committeeman Kevin McMillian prevailed over NJEA leader Will Potter in a three way race for two Democratic Assembly nominations in the 11th legislative district, according to our spy in Asbury Park who doesn’t want to be known for reporting for a Republican blog.
The vote tally of the only contested race of the Monmouth Democratic convention was not announced, but our source said it wasn’t close.
Assuming there are no primary upsets, Zipprich and McMillian will face incumbent Republican Assemblywomen Caroline Casagrande and Mary Pat Angelini in the November 5 general election.
Asbury Park Dentist Dr. Michael Brantley will attempt to cap Senator Jennifer Beck’s career in the NJ State Legislature.
Brantley, a member of the Neptune Township Committee, will be nominated for State Senate from the 11th Legislative District at the Monmouth County Democratic Convention in Asbury Park this morning.
Matthew Morehead, Dog Groomer and candidate for Assembly. facebook photo
Matthew Morehead, owner of Sudzy Puppy Dog Grooming, Middletown, and Allison Friedman an attorney from Aberdeen(according to the Truth, Justice and American Wayall at once blog) will be nominated by the Monmouth Democrats for Assembly in the 13th legislative district this morning in Asbury Park. Assuming they are unchallenged in the June 4 primary, they will likely face incumbent Republicans Amy Handlin and Declan O’Scanlon in November.
Morehead is a long term Middletown and Monmouth County Democratic activist. He was passed over by the party in his previous bids to run for Assembly.
Friedman is unknown. The State Judicary’s website has no record of an Allison Friedman licensed to practice law in New Jersey.
Ruben Scolavino, left and his client, former Corrections Officer Luis Roman, as he pleads guilty to smuggling phones and drugs into prisons. Star Ledger photo
Rueben Scolavino, Esq., of Freehold will be nominated for Sheriff by the Monmouth County Democrats this morning at their convention in Asbury Park.
Scolavino promotes himself as a Toms River DWI lawyer who “will not stop until he reaches a favorable outcome,” on his website, tomsriverdui.com
In addition to his DWI practice, Scolavino defends high profile cases including homicides, sexual assaults, drug trafficking, and white collar crime. He is an adjunct professor at his alma matter, William Paterson University and has given guest lectures at Rutgers and Kean universities, according to his website.
In 2011, he defended a corrections officer from Northern State Prison in Newark and the Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center in Avenel who pled guilty to smuggling cell phones and drugs into the prisons, according to a Star Ledger report.
Monmouth Dems will unanimously endorse Buono tomorrow
Responding to Democratic gubernatorial candidates Carl Bergmanson and Willie Araujo’s statements to MMM that they were not invited to the Monmouth Democratic Nominating Convention, Chairman Vin Gopal issued the following statement:
“We have one of the most open conventions in all of New Jersey. To date, I have only heard from one candidate seeking support for the Democratic Nomination for Governor – Senator Barbara Buono. We have sent several e-mails out to our database asking candidates who are interested in running for Governor, Legislature or County Offices to file a letter of intent. In addition, we had a public post on our Facebook Page on February 3rd asking potential candidates for Governor to get their paperwork in by February 9th, our deadline for candidates for candidates seeking our support. Any candidate who says they have reached out to us and we did not get back to them is just not true. We only heard from Senator Buono and that is who we will be unanimously endorsing tomorrow.”
U.S. Senator Bob Menendez is co-sponsoring the Real Education for Healthy Youth Act, a bill that would expand comprehensive sex education programs in schools, while ensuring that federal funds are spent on “effective, age-appropriate and medically accurate” programs, according to 
